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Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

Latest from Brad:

Minneapolis - "In The Studio With MJ" is coming to your beautiful city next month - Aug 26th, 2017!!

See, Hear and Learn what it was like to work side-by-side with Michael Jackson on three of his icon albums (Bad, Dangerous and HIStory), plus being part of the team that designed and built Neverland Valley Ranch.

A full day in the studio, with an optional evening event called "The Extended Remix" that you basically have to experience to fully understand.
I hope you can us in Minneapolis next month - In The Studio With MJ!
Will You Be There?

Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

Latest from Brad:

Track Sheets, Multitracks and Vaults

Have you ever talked to someone in the military or law enforcement, and they sort of have their own language? They have numbers and abbreviations for various phrases and such. Many of them are not exactly family-friendly so I'll spare you examples, by my point is that Studio Rats also have a language of their own - albeit not nearly as comprehensive as the military.

I have often jumped into a story in a seminar or lecture and assumed that my guests know what a track is, or a track sheet, or a multitrack. Then someone might bravely raise their hand and ask me to define those terms - which I am always happy to do. So, let's go to basic studio school for a bit if you are interested. (If you only came here to find out if Michael put hot sauce on his popcorn, the answer is yes.)

I could go into a very long explanation about the history of multitrack recording, what with Les Paul and Mary Ford being early pioneers, but I quickly discovered that good old Wikipedia does a pretty decent job of explaining the history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wi…/History...rack_recording
Two quick comments: First, if you glance at the article you might read that Patty Page recorded a song in 1947 called "Confess", which was the first vocal-on-vocal recording, ever. Bill Putnam was her engineer, and who do you suppose Bill mentored later in his career? No other than a young Bruce Swedien - who of course was Michael's engineer from The Wiz on! How cool is that? Bruce - a pioneer in his own right - learned his craft from the guy that recorded the first multirack vocal-on-vocal! Next - and stay with me on this - you can't imagine how crucial having multiple tracks to record on has been to the artists and records you love. Not to disrespect Michael in the least, but Liberian Girl without the ability to stack vocals would be a pretty one-dimensional song.

So - what is a track?

A track is a single recording, from a single human voice to a full orchestra - whatever the engineer wants it to be. For example, if I were to record a drum kit, I might put microphones on the snare, the high-hat, the kick drum, each of the toms (let's assume there are four), then two over the drummer's head for the cymbals, and two further back in the room for the "room sound" of the drums. By my count that's 11 mics (big drum sessions often use quite a few more) - so you would record those to 11 "tracks".

How to keep track of all of these tracks (before the days of tapeless recording)? The Track Sheet! Now, when you play those track back into a console, each fader on the console controls the volume for each track. So, if i were playing the tape for the song Dangerous (as shown), and wanted to hear more strings, I would push up faders 21 and 22. Notice how the drums have been submixed down to just two tracks on 15 and 16? That's so the engineer can have a nice mix ready to go for the singer - who on this particular session is Michael Jackson. Notice how we are recording Michael on tracks 1-6? He is recording various "takes" of his vocal on those tracks, then we will compile those takes onto one track - called a "comp" mix - but we'll dig deeper into that on another post.

During MJ albums we burned through a lot of tracks. Like... thousands. And these tracks filled a lot of multitrack tapes. Like... hundreds. And keeping track of all of these tracks, track sheets and tapes took the organizational skills of a school librarian. That was part of the job.

All of these tapes were stored in tape vaults in the studios, and typically only a very few people would have the keys to those vaults. Then, to make it even more complicated - as the projects got larger and larger, Michael would be working in 2, then 5, then 9, then (during the HIStory project) as many as 14 studios at once. And he would need specific tapes in each of those studios. This was before you could "send a file" over the internet - we actually had to deliver the tapes! Sometimes by car, sometimes by FedEx, sometimes hand-carried on flights.

When we moved the HIStory project from New York to LA for mixing, we hired a 53' semi-truck to move us from Hit Factory to Record One, and (to the best of my memory), not a single tape or track sheet was lost. It as a logistical nightmare and masterpiece all at the same time!

All this because Les Paul and Mary Ford, then Bill Putnam and Patty Page, discovered how to create beautiful music by using more than one track. Michael and the team took that to a whole new level with some songs filling more than 200 tracks and scores of tapes!

So the next time I start using phrases or studio terms that you don't fully understand, please don't hesitate to let me know. In the meantime - go listen to "Liberian Girl", where you are hearing Michael stack his background vocals 16 times! THAT... is how good multitrack recording can sound.
We have a very busy few months in front of us.

Minneapolis/St. Paul is just under four weeks away, followed by Seattle. San Paulo, Brazil and Orlando (finally) are also coming together.
It has been a crazy summer, so thank you for your flexibility, but we are getting back on track this fall.

Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

Latest from Brad:

Minneapolis/St. Paul

I have very deep roots in the "Twin Cities" of Minneapolis/St. Paul. My parents grew up, met and married in Minnesota. Most of my extended family still lives in Minnesota. Most of my early vacations as a kid were spent in Minnesota on lakes, in the cities, riding buses, visiting cousins, going to the Mall of America (anyone remember Camp Snoopy?), finding county fairs further up north... on and on.

Bruce Swedien also called Minnesota "home" for his early life. (He converted a movie theater into a recording studio - which is still in operation in Minneapolis). He - and several of my cousins - graduated from Minnihaha Academy, which tragically suffered a horrible, accidental yet deadly explosion this past week.
I have visited the Twin Cities too many times to count, usually to see family and friends - but I have never hosted a seminar in Minnesota.

Minnesota has a rich musical history - from Jimmy and Terry to Prince and Soul Asylum and the Replacements. Even when I was on staff at Westlake in LA there many times our technicians were in Minnesota building parts of Paisley Park or Flyte Tyme Studios - and we waited anxiously for them to return with stories or photos. When I got to work with Susan Rogers (one of Prince's engineers), I likely hounded her with questions about Paisley Park, their equipment, working style, etc. In the early 90's I did manage a nice tour of Flyte Tyme. It's always great to see a world-class studio in a city outside of LA or NY.

During my countless trips to Minnesota we always had a tradition of eating at White Castle. If you don't know what White Castle is, I actually feel a bit sad for you. They are the best little sliders (mini-burgers) ever created. Some people call them bus station food - I call them delicious.

During the HIStory album I would fly back and forth between LA (home) and NY (studio) for about 15 months. Once I found out that there was a White Castle not far from JFK Airport in Queens, I would ask the driver to stop there when I landed and on several occasions I showed up in the studio with a couple giant sacks of Castles for Michael, Bruce and the crew. A nod to my childhood trips to Minnesota, and they were a big hit with everyone - including Applehead.

On Saturday, Aug. 26th, I am proudly and excitedly bringing "In The Studio With MJ" and "The Tour of Neverland/Extended Remix" to the High School for Recording Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota. It's a bit of a homecoming for me as I have so much family that I will be seeing for a few days - and a quick visit to the Minnesota State Fair!

I want to invite you to spend a day with me in the studio learning what it was like to work with, learn from and laugh with the greatest entertainer of our generation - Michael Jackson.

Hear things you have never heard.
See things you have never seen.
Learn things you never knew.
Tickets are on sale now - Will You Be There?

Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

Latest from Brad:

Minneapolis/ St. Paul: On Saturday, Aug. 26th,
It's BOGO time!

We will be in the Twin Cities in ten days and I want as many people as possible to experience a day "In The Studio!"

Are you a Michael Jackson fan?
Are you a music lover?
Have you wondered what it was like to work in the studio with Michael?
Have you ever been curious about the techniques used to record albums like "Bad", "Dangerous" or "HIStory"?
What were the sessions like?
How long did those projects take?
Who was there?
How many songs were recorded?

I want to invite you to join me "In The Studio With MJ" see, hear and learn what it was like to work with, laugh with, learn from and spend time with the greatest entertainer of our generation - Michael Jackson.

I will be bringing my full seven-hour music and video-filled seminar, along with my "Extended Remix/Tour of Neverland" on Saturday, Aug 26th, 2017 at The High School For Recording Arts in St. Paul.

Hear things you have never heard.
See things you have never seen.
Learn things you never knew.For the next ten days if you purchase one ticket, you can bring a friend at no additional charge. Buy-One-Get-One!

Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

Memories from Brad:

August 29, 2017
I don't remember big birthday celebrations in the studio during the EO/Bad/Dangerous/HIStory era, but I do recall Michael's chefs bringing cake or of course banana puddin' to make the day more special for everyone.

Michael was of course raised as a Jehovah Witness, so birthdays were frowned upon. As the years went by he seemed to separate himself from that rule - especially when his own kids came along. Brad Buxer tells a story of Blanket's birthday in Vegas with a giant assortment of musicians, entertainers, magicians, gifts, etc. Still - during those many birthdays we all celebrated in the studio, I don't remember giant celebrations - particularly for Michael.

Two things do pop into my head however whenever I think of birthdays as they relate to Michael. The first is when each of my girls were born (their actual BIRTHday), he had enormous gift baskets delivered to the house. It was both unexpected and remarkably generous on his part. Like most things in Michael-world, these were not small, gift-shop trinkets. They were huge and beautiful and perhaps a bit over-the-top! And they were greatly appreciated.

When Prince was born we gave him a book to welcome him into the world, and Michael responded with a very sweet hand-written note of thanks, which we cherish to this day.

The second thing I think of when it comes to birthdays is something I saw at Neverland. In the back office of the main house - where the staff could take breaks - was a scheduling calendar, like you might see in any office or workplace. (Neverland was a workplace after all for quite a large staff). On the bottom of the calendar was a list of birthdays for each month for the staff members, with a heading that read "The Most Special Day Of The Year!" Most staff members got their birthday off unless there happened to be a large event at the ranch that needed "all hands on deck". The staff always seemed very understanding if they had to schedule their birthday time off for another date due to another event.

The thing about our studio days is that the projects were very long (8-15 months) and "all-consuming". It may not make sense, but the hours were so long that we really didn't make a priority to run to the store to buy birthday cards and gifts for everyone on the crew, so we did the best we could with a special meal together and maybe some really out-of-tune singing of Happy Birthday over a cake and ice cream. We were together so much that we didn't really need much more than that.
Still, if I had the chance to write him one more card, share one more bowl of banana puddin' and offer up one more birthday hug - it would make the day a lot more special.

I miss him, and I celebrate this special day.
Happy Birthday Applehead!
Brad

Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

Latest from Brad:

It All Seemed So Simple
18 years is a long time - enough time to get to know someone pretty well.
I knew when he was happy, and I knew when he was uncomfortable. The goal was to make him happy.
Every.
Single.
Time.

I was very fortunate to work with him in different parts of his world, which was rare among team-members.

It's funny - it takes me about a second to type or say the word "Neverland", yet just the word floods my mind with scores, if not hundreds of images and memories. Just the phrase "I helped build Neverland" doesn't really encompass how amazing the whole thing was.

Neverland, at it's peak, had a staff of something like 80 people. And that doesn't include contractors, electricians, builders, etc., who would create everything from train stations to a zoo. The scope of Neverland was jaw-dropping, and it was a huge part of my life for nearly two decades.
The photo of the bumper cars always makes me smile. The owner loved that ride! The sound system (my creation) was club-level volumes. The side panels would usually be closed, and when guests were coming to the park the guys would fill the ride with fog, start the strobe lights, the disco ball, and the music. It was like thunder in there - insanely loud!

Bumper cars, so I learned, have pre-determined speed controls - which set maximum speed the cars can move. This way if a ride is installed in a park for small kids the cars bump very gently. The owner had no interest in slow-moving bumper cars, so it was set to max and - upon being smashed into full speed by the owner and other guests - you felt it.

Neverland also featured two trains. The "Little Train", which was used extensively to shuttle groups from the ornate gate to the park and zoo, and the "Big Train", which was more of a beautiful featured attraction. The owner called me and asked me to design a monster music system for his new train. Let the games begin!
I quickly had to learn about generators, power conditioning, how much amplification would be needed for that many speakers, passive subwoofers, on and on. This was not just a train - it was for Neverland, and no corners would be cut.

People sometimes ask what my favorite thing at Neverland was, and it is nearly impossible to answer, but the big train (Katherine) is pretty tough to beat.
He wore a lot of hats.
He was my boss.
He was my client.
He was the owner.
He was the artist.
He was the performer.
He was the singer.
He was the songwriter.
He came up the ideas, but he also listened to ours.
He wrote music, but he loved other songwriters.
He knew what he wanted, and he built a team who could deliver.
He was kind.
He was funny.
He was smart.
He was talented.
He was generous.
He was a good friend, and I'd like to introduce him to you.

His name is Michael, and he was like no one you have ever met. I'd like to tell you what it was like to laugh with him, work with him and learn from him.
We have some amazing events planned for the next few weeks in Madrid, Milan and Oslo.

Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

BRAD SUNDBERG IN THE STUDIO WITH MJ RETURNING TO DUBLIN IRELAND 2018

Megan, the organiser of the previous Brad Sundberg Dublin Seminars has contacted Brad about returning to Dublin in 2018. Like before she has created a Facebook event page to promote the event and get an idea of the amount of people who would attend a Dublin seminar. She needs approx 35 people who would genuinely be able to buy a ticket and attend the Dublin seminars to register on the Facebook page before Brad will add Dublin to his schedule and start looking for a venue.

Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

Originally Posted by moonstreet

BRAD SUNDBERG IN THE STUDIO WITH MJ RETURNING TO DUBLIN IRELAND 2018

Megan, the organiser of the previous Brad Sundberg Dublin Seminars has contacted Brad about returning to Dublin in 2018. Like before she has created a Facebook event page to promote the event and get an idea of the amount of people who would attend a Dublin seminar. She needs approx 35 people who would genuinely be able to buy a ticket and attend the Dublin seminars to register on the Facebook page before Brad will add Dublin to his schedule and start looking for a venue.